COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The board overseeing South Carolina's ports said Tuesday it won't spend any more money to develop a Jasper County harbor until the state can work out key deals with Georgia, and the board chairman says he isn't optimistic about those deals.
"We've been out-negotiated. Period," said Ports Authority Chairman Bill Stern. "Do I think they're sincere in ever building a port in Jasper? No."
With a 7-2 vote, the State Ports Authority said it wants commitments from Georgia that are key to building the Jasper Ocean Terminal. Georgia and South Carolina are 50-50 partners in the Jasper port project that's expected to cost $5 billion.
Georgia Ports Authority Chairman Alec Poitevint said Tuesday that his board remains committed. "We are disappointed by the decision made by the South Carolina State Port Authority today to suspend efforts to advance the Jasper port," Poitevint said.
The fate of the Jasper project may now be in the hands of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal. State Sen. Tom Davis of Beaufort said that under the deal setting up the Georgia-South Carolina joint project for the Jasper port, any impasse has to be mediated by the governors.
Although Haley "is disappointed with the message that today's ports authority vote sends, she is as committed as ever to work toward a viable Jasper Ocean Terminal," the Republican governor's spokesman Rob Godfrey said in a prepared statement.
Deal, like Poitevint, said he's committed to supporting port development work in South Carolina and is disappointed in the action from Stern's board.
"Georgia's U.S. senators and I have publicly pledged to work closely with South Carolina to deepen both the Port of Charleston and the Port of Savannah — projects with a huge economic impact on both of our states and the Southeast in general," Deal said in a statement released by his office. "I'm disappointed that the South Carolina Port Authority decided today to withdraw financial support to move forward on the Jasper Port. We will not let gamesmanship disrupt our teamwork to bring high-paying jobs to Georgia and South Carolina."
Stern said a deal needs to be struck on an environmental impact study to deepen the Savannah River to 50 feet up to the Jasper port site. The authority also wants a firm date when Georgia will release a federal easement for property at the Jasper site and release an analysis of how much traffic the Savannah River can handle.
South Carolina has approved a water quality environmental permit needed to deepen the river to 47 feet, Stern said. He said ships coming through a deepened Panama Canal will need the extra depth and deepening the Savannah River to only 48 feet will cause problems for deepening Charleston's waterways to 50 feet.
If Georgia is arguing for less depth to service its port, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may question why the Charleston waterways need to be deeper. Stern said it's widely accepted that 50 feet is the minimum depth for traffic moving through the Panama Canal.
Stern said he met Monday with Poitevint and told him the issues were going to be put to a vote by the South Carolina port board. Stern said Poitevint told him he'd never agree to the 50 foot channel to Jasper County.
Meanwhile, the Savannah River has limits on how much traffic it can handle and the channel needs to be wide enough to handle it, Stern said. That's why a capacity study is needed. Stern said Georgia has completed one, but has refused to release it.
"I'm trying to tell the people in Jasper County we're sincere and want to move forward with Jasper, but we're not going to be played and we're not going to continue to spend money," Stern said. South Carolina and Georgia each have already spent at least $3 million.
Poitevint said nothing has changed for his board. "We remain committed to three successful, deepened ports in Savannah, Jasper and Charleston," Poitevint said.
Stern was irked that the board overseeing South Carolina's Department of Health and Environmental Control approved water quality permits that Georgia needs to expand its port facilities further up the Savannah River with promises from Georgia that have little value.
Georgia has said it would cover the cost of untested gear to maintain oxygen levels in the river and that 1,690 acres of salt water marsh it owns in South Carolina would be protected. Stern said South Carolina would never have been on the hook for the oxygen gear in the first place. Meanwhile, state and federal permits are required to alter salt water marshland anyway.
"I don't understand where that's such a big concession," Stern said.
That water quality permit is now being challenged by South Carolina's Savannah River Maritime Commission, a panel set up to handle dredging, navigation and wastewater issues in the river that serves as a border between the two states.
"You know, they've done a great job in playing us, in my opinion, and I commend them for being able to get the DHEC permit. More power to them," Stern said.
On another issue, Davis noted that Georgia's development plans called cadmium-laden muck from dredging the Savannah River to be put where the Jasper terminal would be built, making it unusable for 50 years. "Using the 1,500-acre Jasper port site as Georgia's dumping ground is morally and legally indefensible," Davis said in a statement.
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